


Shore Leave

by Jain



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Character of Color, Community: trekmas, Established Relationship, F/F, POV Third Person, Past Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-14 08:50:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uhura isn't going to Kirk's barbecue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shore Leave

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Rosenskimmer](http://rosenskimmer.livejournal.com/).

"Uhura, you won't forget about our Fourth of July barbecue, right?" Kirk said when the Enterprise was still three days away from Earth and the crew's much-anticipated shore leave.

Though she considered it more than a bit absurd to celebrate an antiquated United States holiday among a crowd that was overwhelmingly non-American--not to mention minority extraterrestrial--Uhura just smiled politely. "I won't forget, but I also won't be there. Previous plans, sorry."

"Any chance those plans could be rescheduled? I'm sure I don't need to tell you, Uhura, this is going to be the event of the _year_ , what with Scotty promising to get us all well-acquainted with whiskey, Chekov promising the same for vodka, Sulu promising the same for good old American beer, and Spock promising to not blackmail us over anything we say or do while we're...indisposed. Also, there will be succulent meats cooked over the flame in a fine and historical fashion. And pie."

Megalomaniacs should never be made captain, Uhura reflected, not for the first time. Their increased opportunity to soliloquize was disastrous. "Thanks, but I'll pass," she said.

"Everyone's going to be there," Kirk exaggerated cheerfully. "Even Lieutenant Bielzi, and her species is allergic to sunlight." Several members of the bridge crew turned curious and/or concerned eyes towards their captain, and he quickly added, "Bones is taking care of her during the barbecue. Anyway, the point is, certain crewmembers are making what some might call a sacrifice in order to attend the first of what I'm envisioning as an annual event, and under the circumstances--"

"I'm going to be off-planet," Uhura interrupted.

The captain's eyes lit up, and Uhura pretended to be busy at her terminal in an attempt to forestall the inevitable prying questions. Unfortunately, Kirk had an unerring instinct for when she was genuinely busy. He'd never yet interrupted her in the middle of important work--except on the occasions when she was needed for an even more critical task--but he had the habit of dragging her into his daily round of gossip whenever she was otherwise unoccupied.

"Business or pleasure?" Kirk asked.

The most accurate answer was 'Neither,' but Uhura didn't want to go down that road, so she simply said, "Family business," in as coolly impersonal a tone as she could muster.

The penetrating look Kirk cast towards her at that response was more than a bit unsettling, but thankfully he chose to exercise his (all too limited) discretion and let the matter drop without further comment, shifting the conversation back to the numerous varieties of pie that he claimed were essential menu items at any _real_ summer barbecue.

* * *

The usual hum of activity on the bridge assumed a somewhat frenzied quality as their arrival time shortened to hours rather than days. Kirk responded to the crew's emotional tenor with greater and greater gregariousness, until Uhura was seriously pressed to maintain her professional calm. A certain friendliness and informality could be welcome on board, but there were _limits_.

Fortunately, Kirk seemed to pick up on the fact that his excessive bonhomie was bringing his Communications Officer close to her breaking point, or perhaps he was just beginning to annoy himself, because he chose to retire to his ready room to compose his communique to Starfleet. This was the normal state of affairs when he had to discuss matters requiring privacy and discretion, of course, but it seemed unlikely that any such would have arisen in their last day before shore leave. The entire crew was on their best behavior, give or take a few jittery nerves, since no one wanted to forfeit any part of the scheduled four week leave.

Kirk winked at Uhura as he surrendered the con to Spock. Uhura took a surreptitiously deep breath, reminded herself that in less than five hours, the Enterprise crew would begin to disembark, and gave Kirk a brief nod as he retreated, whistling, to his ready room.

* * *

Gaila licked a wet line across the top of Uhura's breasts, and Uhura shivered, feeling an answering tug at the leather straps buckled around her wrists. Gaila smiled down at her and straightened up. Her new position pressed the lush curves of her ass more firmly against Uhura's bare stomach, and Uhura felt a pulse of warmth spread through her lower body.

Gaila's fingers crept under the hem of her own shirt and tugged it upwards with teasing slowness, raising it centimeter by centimeter, while Uhura watched with feigned nonchalance. She couldn't restrain her gasp, though, when Gaila pulled her shirt high enough that her breasts spilled out from underneath the tight fabric. Nor her wide-eyed stare when she saw the string of opals spanning the cleft between Gaila's breasts, and held in place by filigree nipple clamp clasps.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked appreciatively.

"It's a present from Jim. There's one for you, too," Gaila said, rising to her knees to pull a string of garnets out of her trouser pocket.

Uhura blinked. " _Excuse me?_ "

Gaila just tilted her head at her as though it were perfectly normal for her commanding officer to gift her and her lover with expensive sex toys...and for all Uhura knew, it _might_ be perfectly normal for Gaila. But it certainly wasn't normal for Uhura.

"Marmalade," she snapped, and Gaila immediately began to unbuckle the straps tying Uhura to the headboard, even though her forehead was crinkled in confusion.

"What's the matter?" she asked when Uhura had raised herself to a sitting position.

"We need to talk about this. I know Kirk's your friend and the two of you have a comfortable and fairly intimate relationship. But that doesn't mean it's okay for him to give _me_ sex toys."

"Oh!" Gaila let out a breath of laughter. "No, sorry. That's my mistake. I should have explained the situation first."

Uhura spread her hands, palms up, inviting Gaila's explanation.

"They're a wedding gift. He wanted to give us two sets of presents, one from each of our cultures. I think he said something about a...toaster?...for the Terran half of our gift. What is that?"

"A bad joke," said Uhura. "He's not actually getting us one. What I don't understand is why he's giving us _anything_. We're not even married yet. Not to mention that we agreed not to tell him until after the fact." She looked at Gaila pointedly.

Gaila shrugged, a somewhat guilty expression on her face. "He'd already guessed somehow; I just confirmed it. Sorry."

Uhura sighed. "As long as he doesn't try to throw us a joint bachelorette party, it's okay."

"He won't," Gaila said with the easy confidence of someone who knew all of Kirk's ticklish spots and who wouldn't hesitate to threaten him with their general publication. "And the reason he gave us the nipple clamps now is that it's traditional to give Orion wedding gifts at least four days before the ceremony. So...um...don't be surprised when all my relatives and friends from home give us presents immediately after we beam down to Orion."

"Are we expected to use _all_ of the gifts before the ceremony?" Uhura asked.

Gaila laughed. "No, no. Just the ones we want to. It used to be the tradition to use them all, but that was thousands of years ago, when people lived in much smaller groups. If it were still the tradition today, everyone would sleep right through their own wedding!"

"Good point," Uhura said, laughing a little herself. "So, all I need to worry about is thanking your grandmother nicely when she hands me a sex toy at our first meeting, and not that she'll quiz me on how much I enjoyed it later."

"That's right."

"Okay, I can handle that."

Gaila smiled at her hopefully. "Does that mean we can use Jim's present now?"

Uhura reached a hand up to trace the string of opals, then hooked one finger over it and tugged gently. Gaila sucked in a sharp breath. "Whatever his other faults may be, he _does_ have excellent taste," Uhura admitted.

Gaila sifted around the bedclothes a bit until she found Uhura's garnets. She held them out questioningly, and Uhura braced her hands behind herself and arched her back in response. Gaila bent her head to Uhura's left breast and caught her nipple between her lips, sucking firmly to harden it. The touch of the metal clamp was shockingly cold and hard in contrast, especially when Gaila thumbed it closed, sending a quick shiver of pain down Uhura's spine even as her pinched nipple began to burn slightly with a warm, pleasurable ache.

Before she'd gotten fully accustomed to the feeling, Gaila kissed her other nipple and coaxed it erect with a series of licks and nips, then clipped the second clamp onto it. "Good?" she asked.

"Very," Uhura said. There was an uncomfortable twisting feeling in her stomach that she'd carried around for over a week and that no doubt wouldn't leave until after the wedding, but it was a lot easier to ignore when she was in bed with a cheerful, half-naked Gaila. She stroked the exposed arch of Gaila's hip--feeling Gaila twitch with an abrupt giggle when Uhura touched a ticklish spot--and then let herself fall into Gaila's warm, laughing embrace.


End file.
